2014 High Bridge Trip Photo Album/Week 3

The special spans visited during the third week included Beipanjiang Duge, Beipanjiang Shuipan, Nanpanjiang Railway and Qingshuihe Railway. We also toured the Malinghe River gorge, Dali City, Lijiang City and the world famous Tiger Leaping Gorge.

A view of how the Beipanjiang Duge Bridge will look in 2016 when it opens as the World's Highest Bridge with a deck drop of at least 564 meters. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The Beipanjiang Duge Bridge headquarters from 160 meters up on the tower. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The Gexiang River can be seen flowing under the crane towards its confluence with the Beian River. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Two small footbridges across the Beipan and Gexiang Rivers. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Our trip to southern Guizhou was along the new Shuipan expressway with the giant Beipanjiang beam bridge that contains one of the 10 longest beam spans in the world at 290 meters. The deck is 245 meters above the river. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by John Filmer.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The spectacular Wanglongbao Bridge is next on the Shuipan expressway with a drop of 208 meters on a span 160 meters long. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The small but impressive Wanlong arch bridge as seen from the Wanglongbao Bridge. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Panxian City is one of the fastest growing urban areas in Guizhou with expressway and high speed railway access arriving soon in both North-South and East-West directions. Image by John Filmer.

Image by Peter Wu.

LED lighting is everywhere in Panxian. Image by John Filmer.

This triple arch bridge was just down the street from our hotel. Image by John Filmer.

The new Malinge cable stayed bridge is one of many large bridges that are planned or under construction across the deep canyon near Xingyi City. Image by Peter Wu.

Image by John Filmer.

The local police shooed us off the bridge. Image by John Filmer.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Our Xingyi city hotel had some interesting animal sculptures on each floor. Image by John Filmer.

The amazing waterfalls of the Maling River gorge were at full volume from recent rains. Image by John Filmer.

The 73 meter high cliff elevator that brings tourists out of the gorge. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by John Filmer.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Unknown.

Image by Elly Filmer.

Image by Unknown.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by John Filmer.

Image by Jorson.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Unknown.

Image by Jorson.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Unknown.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The driver was intent on getting himself in the perfect photo spot! Image by Jorson.

Image by Jorson.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by John Filmer.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

One of the many architectural wonders of Xingyi city! Image by John Filmer.

Still one of the highest beam railway bridges in the world at 180 meters, the Qingshuihe Railway crossing is also one of the most beautiful. Image by Peter Wu.

Image by John Filmer.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The moment before John and me had our hats blown off! Mine was never recovered. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The main plaza in Xingyi city was a lively place. Image by Peter Wu.

An older and a newer concrete arch cross the Maling River in the southern end of Xingyi city. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by John Filmer.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The newest entry in the Maling River family is this 110 meter high arch near the north end of Xingyi City that will open in 2015. The wide concrete arch bridge will have a main span of 152 meters. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

To get across the gorge we all had to cross an old stone arch at the bottom of the valley that is hundreds of years old. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by John Filmer.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The Nanpanjiang Railway Bridge is the world's 3rd longest concrete arch and was designed by Xie Hai Qing who gave us a tour of the slightly larger Beipanjiang Railway Bridge near Qinglong. Both spans have similar dimensions with a 100 meter arch rise but the span of Nanpanjiang is 29 meters shorter then the Beipan crossing. The new high speed railway line will open in 2016 allowing super fast travel between southern cities like Shenzhen and Hong Kong with Kunming. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Peter Wu.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The nicest hotel of the trip was the Hao Bang Hotel in Mile, Yunnan where some of us did some stellar singing at the Karaoke club located just below the hotel. Image by John Filmer.

Image by John Filmer.

Our driver Mr. Chen belts out a tune. Image by Elly Filmer.

Biao smolders us all with his rendition of Kenny Roger's "Lady". Image by Elly Filmer.

Image by Elly Filmer.

Image by Elly Filmer.

Say goodbye to the nicest room in Yunnan Province! Image by John Filmer.

An umbrella with an image of either the famous Wuhan or Nanjing Yangtze Railway Bridge. Daqiao means Big Bridge. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Nothing like taking a smoke break during lunch! Image by John Filmer.

The biggest tourist attraction in all of Yunnan Province is the Shilin Stone Forest where unusual rock formations bend and distort themselves into odd shapes and curves. Image by Peter Wu.

Image by John Filmer.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by John Filmer.

Image by John Filmer.

Image by Jorson.

Image by Jorson.

Image by John Filmer.

Image by Peter Wu.

Image by Elly Filmer.

Image by Unknown.

Image by Elly Filmer.

By sheer coincidence we met Beipanjiang and Nanpanjiang Railway Bridge designer Xie Hai Qing and his wife and daughter at the stone forest. Image by Unknown.

One of the entrances to the historical city of Dali. The old town area has become a tourist spot but most people go to Dalit to see the 3 pagodas that are over 1,000 years old. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Mr. Chen.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

John stands in front of the leaning pagoda where the foundation is not as solid as the other 2 pagodas. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

There are many nightclubs along the alleys of Lijiang. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

An interesting cafe nearly hidden among the alleys reminded me of a beatnik cafe from San Francisco. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

A concrete arch carries the G214 road across the Jinshajiang upper Yangtze River near Tiger Leaping gorge. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Another crossing of the Jinshajiang just south of Tiger Leaping Gorge. Image by Peter Wu.

The main parking area for tour buses headed into the Tiger Leaping Gorge. The mountains in the background rise almost 4,000 meters from the river to the highest peaks. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

A view looking south where the large expressway and railway suspension bridges will cross more then 200 meters above the gorge when they are completed by the year 2020. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

A narrow, less accessible trail traverses the east side of the river canyon with few tourists. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The giant viewing platform overlooking the famous Tiger Leaping rock has been exapnded to handle much bigger crowds. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Peter Wu.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The giant rock made famous by the tale of a Tiger Leaping across the river. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

There are glass panels on the edge of the viewing platform. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Wealthier tourists can pay to have themselves carried up and down the steps. Image by John Filmer.

Image by John Filmer.

Image by John Filmer.

Image by Jorson.

Image by Jorson.

Image by Elly Filmer.

Image by Jorson.

The parking area is always full during the tourist season. Image by John Filmer.

Stair truss supports. Image by John Filmer.

We ventured further into the gorge past where the tour buses can go. Image by John Filmer.

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The incredible peaks near the Middle Tiger Leaping gorge where we stayed at Tina's Guesthouse. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Tina's Guesthouse is just a hundred meters from the highest bridge in the entire Tiger Leaping Gorge area. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The Shenchuan arch bridge crosses 110 meters above a small creek. At night we tossed a small round of firecrackers over the side which caused a lot of noise as it fell to the bottom of the crevasse. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

A view of the Lower Tiger Leaping Gorge which few tourists ever visit. Maybe on a future trip. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Mr. Chen.

After hiking for several hours we got lost attempting to get back up to the main road and ended up on a farmer's property. When Biao asked the owner how often lost tourists wander onto his property he replied, "All the time". Lucky for us we did not have to hike several more kilometers back to our guesthouse. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Our final group photo at a nice restaurant on Kunming's Cuihu Lake. The 3-week excursion was another great adventure with an outstanding group of explorers who conquered a small part of Western China's marvelous, mythical and otherworldly land of gargantuan gorges and soaring spans.